Driving PointDrive Adoption In Your Organization

July 31, 2017

PointDrive has been out for a few months, and many of our customers are wondering how they ever got along without it. For the uninitiated, PointDrive is the new functionality now available inside of Sales Navigator, that offers a more professional way to deliver personalized content and drives greater engagement between buyers and seller. In our brand new Sales Navigator Community, which is an online space for Program Managers and Admins to collaborate with each other, PointDrive has quickly gained status as the most talked about feature. So many great tips and conversations have been shared that we just had to share them with the world!

Getting teams to use PointDrive

Even with a product as easy to use as PointDrive, purposeful usage takes strategy. Getting the whole organization to adopt a new product or feature can be daunting, but not if you follow these tips.

1. Managers should drive

Alejandro Cabral, Head of Indirect Sales and Business Development, LatAm at BMC shares: “Adoption starts with those that lead. It doesn't need to be a "whip" thing. It can be fun but mostly, reps need to see managers mean it. Now, the problem might be getting managers on board.” This is really solid advice, and is really the first step in getting any organizational buy-in and adoption.

2. Let reps experience it firsthand

Because PointDrive is all about engaging and visual communication, you have to see it to believe it. In your next email, skip the email and attachments -- instead, include everything in a PointDrive and send to people whom you want to adopt it. Tristan Jackson, Founder at WinDigtial, did just that when he delivered a collaboration strategy to his stakeholders.” For those who viewed it, they were immediately bought into the concept.”

3. Get a champion

Getting managers to lead the change is not enough though. You must have grassroots support also. Reps must see people like them using it, to solve for the same problems and scenarios they face every day. There is no substitute for placing it in the context of everyday work. “Getting at least one person excited about this and working with you from the bottoms up helps. Give this champion a special place for agreeing to doing it. Empower that person,” advises Alejandro. “I myself use it to send out all communications regarding my organization, and I asked for a "champion" to step up and help drive...and it worked! We're now including her in our "ambassadors" program.”

4. Don't stop communicating

“I keep thinking of new things to communicate with PointDrive, and my team at least seems to be responding to that. They've even copied a couple of them and are using them!” says Alejandro. Finding new and exciting use cases is really key - the sky is really the limit. Chris Boulton, Key Account Manager at 3M Automotive and Aerospace Solutions, is excited about PointDrive’s “capability to circle all MarComm content, YouTube videos, tech datasheets, safety datasheets, highlight customer features and benefits. You can even add 'ask an expert' section and direct the reader to purchase -- all with web analytics.”

5. Be consistent

PointDrive is a great opportunity for Marketing to collaborate with Sales and ensure that all presentations sent to clients tell the right message, in the right voice, with the right visuals. “Collaborate with marketing or sales enablement people to help keep your presentations consistent and get the messaging right and also to help tweak any assets that are needed,” advises Michael Goeden, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Digital Marketing Institute.

6. Use stats to show it works

A huge benefit of PointDrive over sending email attachments is the insight into what content is working and what isn’t. “After getting some 12 presentations done, we got together and looked at the numbers. You don't get a lot of indicators but the ones you get work pretty well. Communicate them, show them what it means. Where are readers clicking the most? What kind of content is better appreciated? What rep created the most presentations and did they get many readers?” shares Alejandro.

7. Work with the marketing team

Alejandro says that PointDrive is a “great way for sales to engage with Marketing: we need the templates, we need the content. I've posed it that way and it's worked wonders so far!” Indeed, PointDrive is where Marketing and Sales can collaborate to deliver a great experience to the prospect. “This tool really helps marketing drive collateral and empower sales to create their own value to it. Currently I'm using PointDrive to drive internal training, yet this is a great tool for sales to deliver content like white papers, videos and/or statements of work. There's really a lot you can do,” shared Tristan.

We hope this was helpful! For more tips, and to access other program managers’ PointDrive presentations, join our new Community. It’s open to all Program Managers of Sales Navigator. We are in private beta now, so please send us a message to successcommunity@linkedin.com if you would like to join.